PETITION TO SUPPORT THE BIG SKY COUNTRY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA

Following are among the many reasons we support creation of the Big Sky Country National Heritage Area in Cascade County and part of Chouteau County:

The BSCNHA and willing partners will work together to promote and diversify the economy, interpret the history and culture of central Montana; provide technical support for landowners who wish to preserve historic structures; and tell the stories of this region; and…

The Board of the Big Sky Country National Heritage Area (BSCNHA) has conducted nine fully noticed public meetings over five years and held more than fifty meetings with local service organizations, businesses and town/county commissioners while planning for the creation of the BSCNHA; and…

The BSCNHA Board has enlisted the services of well-known historians and respected professionals to define a proposed project area, encompassing the significant resources identified by the public; and…

The Board of BSCNHA has engaged organizations in Cascade and Chouteau Counties that are willing partners in the enterprise to tell the story of the area; and…

The group is vested as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, established in Montana, and it has volunteered to advance the effort to establish the first National Heritage Area in the state of Montana; and…

The National Heritage Area program was created to relieve pressures on the National Park Service, and thus the taxpayer, from the full burden of preservation and promotion of local and regional resources important to the history of the nation; and...

Establishment of a National Heritage Area in central Montana will by law NOT affect private property rights; will NOT change local, state, or federal regulations; will NOT allow for eminent domain, and will have no regulatory power whatsoever; and…

National Heritage Areas throughout the nation have proven to be catalysts for economic development in their communities and on average generate $5.00 of local and private investment for every federal dollar allocated.

We, the undersigned, firmly SUPPORT creation of the Big Sky Country National Heritage Area: